Interview with Bryon Vaughn, NEUROGARDEN

If you could have one paranormal ability, what would it be?

I would say telekinesis. The idea of being able to just reach out and grab something with my mind makes the inner lazy bum in me giddy. But I have so many questions about this ability? Would I be limited to the strength of my body when moving things with my mind? For example, could I lift a building, or only another person? Would I get tired just as when I’m lifting at the gym? Would it hurt like it did for Charlie in Stephen King’s Firestarter, or worse cause nosebleeds. I can’t stand seeing my own blood.

What is one thing your readers would be most surprised to learn about you?

Whenever I meet somebody new they are always surprised by my age. I’m older than I look, or so I’m told. When they hear I have two grown children, both out of college, they are shocked. I always tell them that I have a portrait in my attic that looks horrific like Dorian Gray, only nerdy.

When writing descriptions of your hero/ine, what feature do you start with?

Descriptions of characters are difficult for me to envision in the beginning, so I usually start with a familiar personality or somebody I know and work from there. For example, I started with a picture in my head of the antagonist in Neurogarden looking like Natascha McElhone, and it was much easier to get her onto the page from there.

Actually writing out the description, I nearly always start with the eyes. So much can be revealed through the eyes, and it is a perfect metaphor for capturing what is seen and what is hidden within.

Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I start with every intent of being a plotter. I get the idea of the story nailed down. I pick out my characters, write up bios, outline the main elements of the plot, all of that so I can feel like I have enough of a story to start the arduous task of writing a novel. As soon as I have that, and I’m confident that I have what I need, I get started and it pretty much all goes out the window. The story and characters take their own paths, and I am just the conduit to get them out there.

I guess you could call me prepared pantser, at least until the editing phase, when the plotter returns to rein in some of the shenanigans that my characters get up to.

Did you learn anything from writing this book? If so, what?

While I have always respected novelists for the sheer willpower to get their work written, polished, completed, I don’t think I really understood the work that it takes to write a full novel. My previous work was exclusively short stories. I never felt I had a story that needed 60,000 words or more to tell, but when I had that story in Neurogarden, it was a lot of work to get it done.

I learned to be diligent, and to make time everyday to get the work done. I learned that no matter how much I dread a particular scene that is causing me difficulty, for whatever reason, I need to push through or the story will never be told, and with so much already completed, I want to know how it ends so there is no turning back.

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BLURB:

Where can you run when there is no place to hide?

Brenna Patrick is a brilliant technologist specializing in neural-cognitive functions and AI. She has cracked the code to solve one of the most troublesome problems in the field, and turned that into the multi-billion dollar NeuralTech Corporation.

Working quietly with the U.S. Department of Defense, NeuralTech is poised to leapfrog the competition with a revolutionary system for tracking people, starting with the world’s most wanted terrorists. But there are only so many terrorists in the world, so who’s next?

When a pair of Columbia graduate students, Jenny and Leo, stumble on the dark secret of NeuralTech’s success, it kicks off a tense game of cat and mouse. As they fight to defeat the powerful forces arrayed against them, nothing less than the fate of humanity hangs in the balance…

NEUROGARDEN is a roller-coaster ride of a thriller, one that will have readers pondering the nature of memory, and of reality, long after they've read the last page.

Amazon Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Neurogarden-NeuralTech-Corporation-Book-1-ebook/dp/B08F7BWCDZ

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Ever since reading Douglas Adams back in my formative years, I have had an interesting relationship with humor, science fiction, and technology. My first computer was a TI-99/4A, so yeah, I’m old, but only until scientists have cracked the code on transplanting our brains into shiny new vessels.

My body may be showing signs of wear, but I’m keeping my brain tight.

When I am not dreaming of far off worlds and writing, I am living a semi-normal life working in New York City, and watching movies with my wife and her spastic cat, Moss.

Relevant Links:

Web site: https://www.bryonvaughn.com

Facebook: https://facebook.com/bryonvaughnauthor

Instagram: https://instagram.com/bryonvaughn

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bryonvaughn

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